AAAAAAAAHHHH DROPPED PRECIOUS POWERBOOK...AGAIN!!!!

[biohazard6969]

AAAAAAAHHHH, i dropped my powerbook again!!!!!!! its sooooooooooooooo dented now......but i actually managed to hammer (yes hammer) out a couple of the hideous dents, only to have the nice aluminum stained black with toolmarks....it just goes to show, a soft case will never do.

thusly, i have 2 questions to ask

1. what is a good recomendation on a hard case for a powerbook 12"?

2. why is it that everytime i drop my powerbook, the airport card gets dislodged? the first time i did this i had to take it in, i don't know how to open up my powerbook, and this time i tried to open it up, i took out all of the screws but i still couldn't do it, and i got scared of forcing it open so i'm just gonna take it into an apple repair place i know of.

[PlaceofDis]

you never hammer metal on metal! always need a buffer between the two!!

there is a case/sleeve thread so might want to look their for a case

check out www.pbfixit.com if you want to look at getting a new shell for your book compared to apple's price

isnt the airport card in the battery bay?! or did the move it? :confused:

[eleveneastgate]

Sorry to hear about that... Good Luck on the repairs!

RE: CASE

Maybe try a sleeve from Booq.

Peace!

[Phat_Pat]

maybe you should put some grip on it.... or a bag to carry it in...

[biohazard6969]

you never hammer metal on metal! always need a buffer between the two!!

there is a case/sleeve thread so might want to look their for a case

check out www.pbfixit.com if you want to look at getting a new shell for your book compared to apple's price

isnt the airport card in the battery bay?! or did the move it? :confused:

well if it was anywhere near the battery bay then it would be toast, the batery took the brunt of the damage, the metal was all twisted, and yes i'm an idiot, ALWAYS a buffer!!! grrrrrr!! :mad: ok, and the whole reason why this happedned was because i have this crappy soft case for it, i want something like a metal briefcase. is there anything made specially for PB 12"?

[yellow]

That sucks, butterfingers! Hope it's ok!

[PlaceofDis]

well if it was anywhere near the battery bay then it would be toast, the batery took the brunt of the damage, the metal was all twisted, and yes i'm an idiot, ALWAYS a buffer!!! grrrrrr!! :mad: ok, and the whole reason why this happedned was because i have this crappy soft case for it, i want something like a metal briefcase. is there anything made specially for PB 12"?

http://www.zerohalliburton.com/

check out that company, expensive but quality from everything i have heard of and seen. and yes a buffer always is needed for metal on metal for example car shops regularly use pieces of wood to pop out small dents because its flat but can take the impact of the hammer without damaging the car body

[dotdotdot]

You can get an actual padded bag where you can put your powerbook in and also some papers, mp3 player, and other stuff.

They run about $20-$120...

[sjpetry]

Can we get some pics?

Sorry about your PB. :(

[GFLPraxis]

AAAAAAAHHHH, i dropped my powerbook again!!!!!!! its sooooooooooooooo dented now......but i actually managed to hammer (yes hammer) out a couple of the hideous dents, only to have the nice aluminum stained black with toolmarks....it just goes to show, a soft case will never do.

thusly, i have 2 questions to ask

1. what is a good recomendation on a hard case for a powerbook 12"?

2. why is it that everytime i drop my powerbook, the airport card gets dislodged? the first time i did this i had to take it in, i don't know how to open up my powerbook, and this time i tried to open it up, i took out all of the screws but i still couldn't do it, and i got scared of forcing it open so i'm just gonna take it into an apple repair place i know of.

I know the feeling and have the EXACT same problem.

I suspect that I might have even damaged the power connector because I have a hard time charging without putting a book or something on the plug.

Dropped it twice :(

Anyone know where I can get it repaired or replace the case?

[PlaceofDis]

I know the feeling and have the EXACT same problem.

I suspect that I might have even damaged the power connector because I have a hard time charging without putting a book or something on the plug.

Dropped it twice :(

Anyone know where I can get it repaired or replace the case?

pbfixit has guides and parts if you want to fix it yourself, or you could take it into apple to have them fix it for you but im sure that would cost some $$$

[Demon Hunter]

I guess there's something to be said about bulky, heavy, plastic laptops. They may be ugly and burdensome, but damage is less likely.

Good luck, I would suggest a MacTruck (http://www.radtech.us/Products/MacTruck.aspx) if you need something minimalist.

But taking extra measures for the care of your laptop will always be the best protection, regardless of case.

[PlaceofDis]

I guess there's something to be said about bulky, heavy, plastic laptops. They may be ugly and burdensome, but damage is less likely.

Good luck, I would suggest a MacTruck (http://www.radtech.us/Products/MacTruck.aspx) if you need something minimalist.

But taking extra measures for the care of your laptop will always be the best protection, regardless of case.

ive heard of worse from the plastic on the bigger laptops, i think the best cases come on the iBooks really, those things are durable!!!

[ravenvii]

Heh heh... A PowerBook gets the worse damage from a 2 feet drop - padded case and all - than a ThinkPad is damaged after surviving a fire.

Nah, maybe not THAT true, but I like the sound of it anyway :D

[GFLPraxis]

pbfixit has guides and parts if you want to fix it yourself, or you could take it into apple to have them fix it for you but im sure that would cost some $$$

Yep, Apple told me it could cost up to $700 depending on how much damage there is. I could get a refurb iBook with better specs than my current PB for that much.

All I really want is it fixed enough that I can charge it, I don't mind blemishes :(

[aussie_geek]

:(

Sorry to hear that you have dropped your PB. :( Even though it is cosmetically challenged at the moment, does it still work or is it making noises? If it's ok, and if I was in your position, I'd keep it - 'post trauma'.

How old is the PowerBook? - Will you be buying another one, lets say within the next year or so? If you are - hold onto your bucks and just turn it into a desktop when you buy the new one. Don't get me wrong - I would be extremely upset if it happend to my 15' (touch wood it doesn't).

Just remember, a beaten up PowerBook can be something to brag about. Think of the dent's as battlescars. You can really show off the fact that PowerBooks are tough and can take some abuse!!!


aussie_geek

[SteveC]

Dude... stop dropping your PowerBook. :p lol

Sorry to be over-simplistic. ;) Seems like a good way to prevent these problems though. :p

[Sutekidane]

yeah, it'd be a good idea not to drop it anymore.

[Sun Baked]

thusly, i have 2 questions to ask

1. what is a good recomendation on a hard case for a powerbook 12"?An iBook is a good hard case version of the PowerBook 12.

Sometimes durability is a better choice over a couple extra MHz or features.

You seem to need durability a bit more than beauty.

[hayduke]

So if you buy a nice hardcase (http://www.radtech.us/Products/MacTruck.aspx) and subsequently drop that, do you then buy a case for your case? Should the second case be a hard case or a soft case?

[mduser63]

2. why is it that everytime i drop my powerbook, the airport card gets dislodged? the first time i did this i had to take it in, i don't know how to open up my powerbook, and this time i tried to open it up, i took out all of the screws but i still couldn't do it, and i got scared of forcing it open so i'm just gonna take it into an apple repair place i know of.

You know, the Airport card on a 12" Powerbook is easily accessible. Just take the battery out, and there's a little door that folds open, and right behind it is the airport card. If the only problem is that it's been knocked loose, you can fix it yourself very easily.

[StarbucksSam]

Is thusly a word? I've got to use that some time.

I am SO sorry about your Powerbook... that like.. sucks. I would have actually used one of those things that takes the dents out of cars. I have a feeling a hammer on a Powerbook is not the greatest idea.... better not tell them that at the Apple Store - it might void your warranty.

[velocityg4]

You can fix those dents with Bondo® and primer. Make it a sweet ghetto rig. :D

[britboy]

I feel your pain biohazard. About 3 years ago I dropped my tibook (original 500mhz version) from about 1 1/2 feet up. Cracked the case around the power supply socket :(

A replacement case would have cost too much, so I just put up with it. It was still a bloody good laptop. Just sold it on ebay for £350, so it can't have done too bad!

[Anonymous Freak]

My poor 12"er has been dropped (in a soft case) twice. The first time dented the right-front corner (making the battery stick a little; it's hard to get in or out now,) the second time dented the LEFT-front corner. Ironically, where the front right is dented in, the front left is tended out.

I haven't gotten around to trying to repair the dents yet, mostly becuase the PowerBook WORKS just fine.

[Lau]

I dropped my 12" PB on Wednesday. It fell less than a foot but the little strip of metal above the CD drive was bulging out. It all seemed fine, but then I tried to connect to my college network and it wouldn't connect even though there was reception showing (even though other people were connecting fine). So after swopping network cards over with my friend and neither of us connecting and me feeling totally sick that I'd broken it, it started connecting really slowly. I reckon it was just really bad luck that the network was a bit dodgy. It's weird that the airport card can get dislodged so easily, cause it's really wedged in that gap.

So I went home and it was fine on my network. Our college network is pants. I hate my college network. :mad: Oh, and I hammered the warped bit flat with a big hammer too :)

[auroberos]

if you live in the uk and have a powerbook, get contents insurance from tesco. They replaced my powerbook entirely because of two cosmetic dents and a few dead pixels from dropping it.

much cheaper than a new case

[biohazard6969]

You know, the Airport card on a 12" Powerbook is easily accessible. Just take the battery out, and there's a little door that folds open, and right behind it is the airport card. If the only problem is that it's been knocked loose, you can fix it yourself very easily.
theres just a little cable there....can u be more specific, i would rele like to know how to do this.

and also, it WAS in a case, in my backpaCK, but the case is like rele soft, and made of the same stuff as a wetsuit. i want one of those rele cool metal cases so that theres NO chance of it getting dented again

give me a sec and i'll post some pics, as i said i hammered out the major dents :o

[biohazard6969]

ok, i managed to figure out how to get the airport card out, i took it out (while the computer was off of course) and took a look at it, and then used a flashlight to take a look at the place where it goes to see if there was any damage. i carefully put the card back in, plugged it in, put the battery back in, and to my dissmay the airport icon still said, "no airport card installed" so i did it again and still nothgin....could the card be fried? pleases don't tell me it is the powerbook, because i can replace the airport card but not the PB, i rele need airport. plz help thx

[rykummer]

I am having the exact problem, and I know for a fact that it isn't caused by the Airport card. After pulling the card that came with my Powerbook (that worked just fine for 3 months) and re-inserting it several (SEVERAL) times, I broke down and got a new Airport card from CompUSA. Same thing. I reinstalled the Operating System (10.3.8 at the time). Same thing. I took the card back to CompUSA and exchanged it for another, on the off-chance that it was a defective card. It didn't work either. Just to be really funny, I returned the second card to CompUSA for a refund, and bought another card from my local Mac retailer. Same result. So, I took that back and reinstalled my original Airport card. Still nothing. When 10.3.9 came out, I installed it. Nothing. When Tiger came out I did a full-on clean install. Nothing. My wife got a new Powerbook and I pulled her Airport card and tried mine in it, it works fine. I'm annoyed as hell and I can do nothing about it. I don't even think I can call Apple at this point, since I dropped it and that's not covered by my warranty. If anyone finds any solution to this problem, PLEASE post!!!